


The thorn in your side

by arellions



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 16:20:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5212559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arellions/pseuds/arellions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas 1977, a small part of the story behind Lily and Petunia's bitter split</p>
            </blockquote>





	The thorn in your side

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for an assignment in 2013 and tried to clean it up when I found it in my folders recently (ITS A BIT LENGTHY, WATCH OUT)

Lily sat in the open, sunlit bedroom that she and Petunia shared during the holidays. The two sides of the room were split cleanly in half, with a noticeable divide in between that emphasized the two sisters’ personalities. On Petunia’s side, the walls were painted peach. The bed was so neatly made it might never have been slept on. This was in contrast to Lily’s rumpled, dragon-patterned comforter (only three Galleons and twelve Sickles in Hogsmeade). The purple walls were plastered with Chocolate Frog cards and the ceiling was hung with several Gryffindor banners, each of them depicting a large gold embroidered lion. Lily sat in the midst of all this, drinking it in. It was good to be home, even with Petunia ’s sour mood and the dread of that night’s dinner. 

Just then the door opened. It was Petunia, but she wasn’t alone. She was leading a rather beefy man by the hand and giggling in a very uncharacteristic manner.

“Tuney!” Lily exclaimed. Petunia looked around, caught sight of her sister, and immediately stopped laughing. Her lips pursed into a thin line, as they so often did when they saw each other these days.

The man spoke. “Tuney? What’s this? Who are you? I assume you know her, Petunia ?”

Petunia looked very uncomfortable as she said, “Ah…yes. This is my –er, sister, Lily. Lily, I’d like for you to meet Vernon Dursley, my fiancé.”

Lily rose from her spot on the bed and examined the bulky man looking questioningly at her. She hoped he wasn’t really as unpleasant as he looked. “When did this happen, exactly?”

Her sister seemed unable to look her in the eye. “A few months ago.” Lily barely had time to feel angry that Petunia hadn’t bothered to tell her fiancé she had a sister, for at that moment a handsome tawny owl came flying through the slightly opened window and landed on her head.

“Hello, Scrapper,” said Lily, reaching up to remove the slip of parchment from the owl’s beak. It was folded unevenly in half. She opened it and read:

Lily-  
On the way to your place, via Knight Bus.  
Lots of traveling for the Christmas holidays this year- I expect it’s family anxious to check up on each other because of the war. I’m 18th in line, so I should be there in about half an hour, but that’s if I’m lucky, because it’s taking so long to get to one place without getting flagged down. Wish they could’ve held Apparition lessons sooner in the year- I’m starting to feel a bit queasy.  
See you soon.  
Love- James  
P.S. Sirius and Mum say hello.

As Lily refolded the letter and placed it carefully into her pocket, she looked up to see Vernon Dursley looking closely at the Chocolate Cards. She was grateful to see that the figures inside knew to remain stationary in the presence of a Muggle. Then her heart skipped a beat as he muttered to himself, “Could’ve sworn I saw one move just now...”

Petunia seemed to think that he should be kept away from the magical trading cards as well because she said sharply, “Vernon! We’ve stayed long enough, come on. I still haven’t shown you the parlor.”

She and her fiancé left the room, Vernon glancing back as he stepped over the threshold and wondering why a practical woman like Petunia would have such an oddball for a sister. No wonder she had never mentioned her.

Lily sighed and plopped down onto her bed, little clouds of dust billowing around her. She had been planning to take Petunia out for dinner that night, anyway, but now that a Muggle who was unsuspecting of the magical world was involved... well, she and James hadn’t planned for that. In the fortnight previous to the holidays, they had spent their free study periods together, practicing cordial replies to things Petunia might say. Lily could only hope that James would act acceptable in the presence of this new man. “AAAHH-CHOO!” She sneezed.

 

\--

 

The doorbell rang. Lily jumped to her feet, ran down the stairs two at a time, burst into the living room just in time to see Vernon opening the door, tripped on the smooth linoleum, and fell sprawling at a pair of feet she recognized to be James’, who had just stepped through the doorway.

“Smooth, Evans.” James smirked.

“Shut up.”

“Ooh, snappy.”

Lily chose to ignore this as she stood up and brushed off her pants. “We’re leaving in half an hour, so go change into something normal.”

“What’s wrong with this?” James asked, grinning and gesturing at his robes, at which Vernon was staring, taken aback. “This is normal, for wi-OUCH!”

Lily had ground her heel into his toes. Meeting his indignant eyes, she jerked her chin at Vernon, who was standing by the doorway, still gaping at James’ robes.”

James still seemed confused, but said nothing. He walked over to Vernon and shook his hand. “Hello, Mr. Evans,” he said politely. “It’s nice to meet you. Lily’s told me about you, of course. I do have to say, you look much younger than I thought.”

Vernon jerked his ham-like hand out of James’ grip. “What?” he spluttered, his face turning red. “F-father? Mr. Evans?”

“Oh.” said James. “Sorry, Lily never told me much about her family, so I assumed...” He faltered, looking helplessly at Lily..

“I-I-I-” Vernon’s face was now a deep purple colour, and he seemed lost for words.

“This is Petunia’s fiancé, Vernon Dursley. I just met him,” said Lily quickly, trying to spare James.

Understanding dawned in James’ eyes, and he began to apologize profusely. Lily started up the stairs, calling back to him as she reached the middle step: “You had better hurry up; we have a reservation, you know, and if you don’t change now we’ll be late!”

She met James in the hallway branching off from the living room, where he had just stepped out of the first-floor bathroom. He looked nice, Lily thought, but extremely uncomfortable in a button down and flared pants.

“I can’t... breathe... with this... thing... on,” he said, panting as he finally succeeded in loosening his tie, which he had double-knotted around his neck like a scarf. He looked her up and down. “You look nice.”

“Thank you,” beamed Lily. She had worn in a halter neck dress, which she had borrowed from Petunia’s closet as she had only robes. It was a bit tight, Petunia being rather skinnier than her, but still fit well. “And that’s not how you wear a tie, weren’t you listening in Muggle Studies?”

“Oh, just leave it off,” pleaded James as Lily fumbled with the tie as well.

“No, no, we have to make a good impression,” said Lily determinedly, still wrestling with the tie.

“We could just charm-”

“There’s a Muggle here, one who doesn’t know about magic,” Lily hissed. “You could be arrested if he saw you. Just give me another minute.”

They arrived in the parking lot a few minutes later. James kept pulling at his newly knotted tie, trying to undo it, and Lily slapping his hand away from his throat every time he tried. Petunia and Vernon were already waiting in Vernon’s car, which was painted an appalling shade of brown. Lily rather thought it resembled a cross between dragon dung fertilizer and Hagrid’s shaggiest coat. Vernon looked behind him as he backed out of the driveway and noticed that the black-haired man was wearing his tie all wrong, with the skinny end in front and the broad end tucked into his shirt. These people really were strange, he thought. He’d known how to correctly knot a tie six different ways since he was eleven, when he had started attending Smeltings.

 

\--

 

The restaurant they were to eat was impressively decorated. It had several chandeliers dangling over the tables, each of which was draped with a rich burgundy-coloured tablecloth and set with a vase of flowers. Lily suddenly felt rather self-conscious as she excuse-me-d her way through the maze of tables and chair legs. She was not at all sure that she had done James’ tie right, no matter what she had told him.

They sat down in a corner next to a group of five who appeared to be part of some university group. A black haired, long nosed girl whispered to the other four and pointed at James, giggling. Petunia pursed her lips but evidently thought the best course would be to ignore the offenders. Vernon, on the other hand, tried to intimidate them.

“I drive a Ford Escort, you know,” he said loudly over the sound of the tittering. “Latest model. Brand new, and it’s said to be the best one there is.”

“A Ford Escort?” asked James curiously. “Is that, ah, a type of ottonobile?”

For some reason it irritated Vernon that this strange man didn’t know what type of car he had. “Of course,” he said, “what kind of car do you drive?”

 

\--

 

It soon became evident that it was not the college students Vernon wanted to impress, but James. It seemed that after the embarrassing events in the living room of the real Mr. Evans’ house, he wanted to show him who he really was, and how much power he had at his drill company, Grunnings.

James, however, was not one to be threatened with power and money. The materialistic nature of this man annoyed him, and he thought he ought to be made humble. He himself had grown up on his parent’s estate - They were a rather wealthy family, and James had gotten the best of the best as a child, including world-class racing brooms. In fact, he was telling Vernon about his broom at that very moment, just to annoy him- though being careful not to let too much slip.

“You said earlier that you drive a- what- a Ford Escort? Yeah, never heard of it. I mean, what I’ve got as a means of transportation- takes me anywhere. So fast, it’s almost like flying. Yep, it’s called the Moontrimmer. Not sure what company makes it, actually. Although with your, uh, position in this world I don’t think it's relevant.”

“James-” Lily interjected, putting down her spoon and looking anxious. “We’re here to get to know each other, not to argue about wealth. And please, stop talking about your, er, car.”

Vernon Dursley was growing angrier by the second. Ignoring Lily’s comment, he said to James, “And I suppose you’re one of those high-class snobby society types, who has maids follow him around sweeping up every crumb you drop with solid gold brooms?”

“Actually,” said James carefully, “I don’t have maids, but I do have a broom. And while it isn’t solid gold, it’s worth just as much. I got it as a present when I... uh, joined a certain sports team.”

“Sports team? What sports team needs brooms? What are you, the Official Bleacher-Sweepers of England?”

He chuckled at his own joke, then stopped laughing as a new thought came to him. This, this man must be bluffing about his “Moontrimmer” car. He probably didn’t even have a car- he must be living on government benefits. Yes, yes, that was it. No wonder he treasured his broom so much. It was probably the only thing he owned. And as to why his tie was tied wrong, that must have been because he had never bothered to go to school, because he was insolent and arrogant enough to think that cheek would be enough for him to succeed in life.

“Do you have a job?” he asked him, eagerly awaiting the answer.

“No,” replied James casually.

“Ha! I knew it! “Declared Vernon triumphantly.

“Not that I needed one anyway,” continued James, irritated.

Lily tugged on James’ sleeve. “James, people are looking,” she hissed.

“What do you mean?” Vernon fumed in response to James’ answer. Here was further proof of the man’s ignorance.

“I mean, my parents have loads of gold, so I don’t really need one while I’m still at school.”

“You’re bluffing.” For the second time that day, Vernon looked as if he was about to explode.

“About?” prompted James, now angry.

“I mean that you probably don’t go to school. And you must be living on government benefits. Explain why else a broom would be your most treasured possession,” he sneered.

“I- well, that’s a private matter-”

“See? You’re stammering. You’re bluffing.”

James’ temper broke. “Just because someone has it better or worse than you, you make up some fantasy about me ignorant! You just can’t stand to be beneath anyone, can you? And you can't stand people beneath you either! Power and money aren’t the only valued things in this world. You may think I’m stupid for thinking so, but if you do, you obviously need to shake some water out of that empty head of yours, because I don’t need to know about your car, or your drill company, or your salary! And nobody else does, and if you think that I’m impressed by your, I don’t know, leadership or power or money you can just shut the hell up because you don’t have it, any of it!”

By now the whole restaurant was staring.

Vernon stood up. “Right- Petunia. Let’s go. We don’t need to be involved with people like this; I don’t know why we even came. What we were thinking- waste of time- let’s go.” He turned back to face Lily and James, who had stood up as well. “I’m not giving you a ride back; you can walk for all I care.”

And, 30 pairs of eyes following them, they stormed out of the restaurant and into the rain.

Lily sat back down with her auburn head in her hands, her shoulders shaking with quiet tears. James sat too. He wanted to say something like, “Ah, well, could’ve been worse,” but that would have been a lie.

A freckly young waiter who they hadn’t noticed until he spoke said tentatively, “Uh, Ma’am, here’s your bill.”

Lily looked up, wiped her eyes, and smiled kindly. “Thank you.” Her voice quavered slightly as she said it.

“Sorry,” he whispered as she fished around in her clutch for Muggle money. “But you know, he really deserved it, the way he was acting.”

She glared at him through her tear-filled eyes. “You weren’t any better from what I saw. It's like- it's like you and Severus all over again.” 

"Don't bring him into this."

"And why shouldn't I? Severus was my best friend, and maybe he turned out to be an arse, but Petunia's my sister! You can't let me lose her too, even if her fiancé is a prick!"

“I was just trying to give him a taste of his own medicine!” protested James, miffed.

“You ruined the whole dinner, James! Why didn’t you just listen politely? The reason I set this up dinner was for you to meet Petunia, sure, but also for me. She’s my sister, James, and she hates me! And probably you now, as well!”

“How could anyone ever hate you?” asked James quietly.

“Ask her. She never talks to me, and when she does, she addresses me as ‘freak’, unless we’re in company. When she turned thirteen, she had a huge birthday party and didn’t invite me. When I go home for the holidays, she pretends I’m not there. She’s in charge of cleaning the house, but my side of the room has a clear centimeter of dust on it. I’m telling you, she hates me. She even said so, the summer before- before fourth year.” Lily’s voice broke. She took a deep breath. “Let’s just go, before it starts raining too hard.”

 

\--

 

That night Lily lay in bed, thinking about what she had said earlier. Did Petunia really hate her? She was sure of it, but why? Why had her sister suddenly stopped talking to Lily ever since her first year at Hogwarts?

She rolled over in bed and looked at her sister, who she had found fast asleep by the time she and James had arrived back home, soaking wet and exhausted. They had used to be the best of friends, but now…

Lily glanced out the window. The street lights looked like candles- and when she took a closer look, she realized that they were candles, eleven of them, burning bright atop a plain white cake as she and her parents sang “Happy Birthday to You” at the top of their lungs.

“Open my present first, Tuney!” Lily squealed excitedly, but before Petunia could even untie the ribbon, there was a knock on the door. Their mother rushed to answer it.

Through the doorway stepped a tall woman unlike any they had ever seen before. She was dressed in dark green robes and appeared to be wearing a matching, pointed hat.

“You are Miss Evans?” she spoke directly to Petunia , who nodded.

“I am Professor Minerva Mcgonagall, Deputy Headmistress and Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and I have been sent to inform you that you are a witch.” The words seemed to resonate in the sudden silence, which was broken by Lily.

“Please- Professor, am I a witch too?”

Professor Mcgonagall looked down at the hopeful face, and wishing she didn’t have to say it, replied kindly, “I’m afraid not.” 

“Wait, what do you mean our Petunia is a witch? And what does that term denote anyway?” asked Lily’s father.

Professor Mcgonagall told him all about how witches and wizards who had been living in secret for centuries, that sometimes children of Muggles (“That is to say, people not coming from a magical family”) acquired powers as well, and to prove it, she re-lit the candles on the long-forgotten birthday cake, then extinguished them with a wave and flick of her wand.

When she finished, the four of them sat staring at her in awe, until it was once again Lily who spoke up first.

“So can Tuney do that too? Can she make spells with a magic wand?”

Professor Mcgonagall nodded. Lily felt a bit jealous. Why was it that Petunia got to be magical? Why couldn’t she go to this school as well? She would work her hardest to get good marks, of course- but once again the strict looking woman with the severe bun refused her.

Lily seemed to watch from afar as Petunia and her parents celebrated with a mixture of neglect and envy. What was so special about Petunia that made her a witch and not Lily? That night, she cried herself to sleep.

Petunia’s birthday was still vividly imprinted in Lily’s mind when she woke up the next day. Raking her hand across the top of her nightstand, her fingers grasped around the thin stick of wood that was her wand. Thank goodness, so it had been a dream after all… the more she tried to remember the details of it, the more vague it became. It had been Petunia’s birthday- or was it her own? She couldn’t remember anymore and gave up trying.

 

\--

 

When she walked into the kitchen, rubbing tiredness out of her eyes, she saw her mother frying sausages and eggs on the stovetop.

“Let me do that.” Checking over her shoulder to make sure that Vernon was out of sight, Lily pulled out her wand and pointed it at the stove. Immediately the food in the pan began to sizzle and brown.

“Thank you, dear,” said her mother, tipping the contents of the pan onto a large platter. “It’s always so much easier when you’re around.”

As Lily turned around to carry the breakfast into the dining room, she thought she saw a flash of pink whip around the corner. She blinked, and it was gone.

A few minutes later, Petunia came into the dining room closely followed by Vernon.

“Good morning,” she said to them cautiously. The chin jerk her sister gave in acknowledgment of her greeting confirmed Lily’s suspicion that she had not forgotten the past night’s events. Vernon seemed to have chosen to ignore her completely. That was fine by her, Lily thought.

They were all sitting stiffly in their seats, saying nothing, when her parents came in. Vernon put on a forced smile and gestured for Lily’s father to sit in the seat next to him. Petunia sat motionless and remained silent.

It was almost a quarter of an hour later that James traipsed into the dining room, trying to pat his hair into a semi-neat state. “All right?” he asked Lily, lowering himself into the seat next to her. Catching sight of her parents, he introduced himself and leaned over the table to shake both of their hands.

Vernon drew back in his chair to avoid coming close to James’ arm, which was more than a foot away from him anyway. He muttered something that sounded very much like “filthy layabout.” Petunia shot him a look and cleared her throat awkwardly.

"The two of us- Vernon and I, that is to say- have made the final arrangements for our wedding, which will be on Boxing Day.”

As Lily’s mother and father clapped and cheered, James leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Does this mean we’re still invited?”

“I guess,” she breathed back, then shushed him so they could continue listening. Her mother was going on about wanting to see which dress she had picked out. “Oh!” she clapped her hand over her mouth and said quietly to James, “I haven’t bought a bridesmaid dress, you have to come with me to pick one that matches the rest.”

 

\--

 

Four hours later, she came home carefully holding a dress she had picked out at the wedding shop. It didn’t fit perfectly, but she could charm it into shape later.

“Petunia,” she called as she reentered the house, accompanied by a worn-out James. “I’ve bought my dress! Would you like to see it?”

She changed in the bathroom and when she stepped out her mother gasped and clapped her hands. “Darling, you look wonderful! I always told you green went well with your eyes,” she gushed. The way she talked, it seemed like it was Lily’s wedding, not Petunia’s.

Petunia only came down after her mother had called her several times. Upon seeing her dress, she wrinkled her nose. “Isn’t that a bridesmaid’s dress?” she asked.

“Of course it is,” said Lily, twirling. She stopped dead at what her sister said next:

“But you aren’t a bridesmaid.” Out of the corner of her eye Lily could see her mother trying to creep out of the room unnoticed.

“What? But I’m your sister! Who else would be your bridesmaid?”

“I’ve got- enough bridesmaids already. There’s no room for you.”

“Really? Who?”

“Vernon’s sister Marjorie and my friend Yvonne.”

“That’s only two!”

“Well, I don’t want you as a bridesmaid.”

Lily was stung. “What happened to you?”

“What do you mean?”

Lily snorted. “Don't act all innocent. I've asked you countless times. Why do you hate me so much?”

“Because you’re a freak. You think I want to have a weirdo like you as a bridesmaid?”

“What’s going on?” Vernon had appeared in the doorway and was looking back and forth between the two of them.

“Nothing,” said Petunia swiftly, and she followed him out of the room, leaving Lily standing in the middle of the room, stricken.

“You know, I’m starting to wonder if this wedding is even worth going to.”

Lily jumped. James was standing right behind her. “How did you-”

“Disillusionment Charm.”

“And it’s my sister’s wedding. Of course it’s worth going to.”

“Not if I don’t get to see you in that dress.”

“Shut up,” Lily said, but smiled. “Come on, let’s go return this dress and get a new one. And I forgot, we need to get you a proper suit as well.”

James groaned. “What? You mean I can’t just wear my dress robes? Who are these people?”

 

\--

 

By the time Christmas Eve night rolled around the tension between the two sisters still hadn’t lessened. Vernon had taken to shooting Lily and James scornful looks, and seemed disgusted by even the sight of them.

At first, Lily thought he was still fuming about the incident at dinner a few days ago, until she learned from tip-off by her mother that Petunia had told him about them being a witch and wizard. This deepened her dislike of him, but she was glad to finally be able to use magic freely. Her and James’ game of wizard chess probably greatly annoyed Vernon, who had in an attempt to shame James, unwittingly accepted his offer to a game of chess. The bruise marks left on his fingers from the pawns’ relentless stomping were of an even deeper beetroot color than his face after realizing he had been tricked.

“Check mate.”

“Bloody hell, Lily, how’d you beat me?” demanded James.

Lily grinned. “I guess I’m the new ‘Brilliant Chess Master,’ then,” she teased.

“You’re worse than Remus,” he complained. “At least he only took my pride, not my title.”

“Remind me to play him sometime.”

“I doubt you’ll win. He’s a mastermind, Moony is.”

Their conversation was interrupted by Lily’s mother, who came in holding several steaming mugs of hot chocolate. Accepting, they sipped at the warming drink gratefully.

“Lily, dear, I’ve run out of mix, would you mind-”

“Sure,” said Lily, and pointing her wand at her and James’ cups of hot cocoa, she said, “Geminio.” Instantly two identical cups of the frothy drink appeared, side by side. She offered them to Petunia and Vernon.

“That- did you use your… abilities to make that?” asked Vernon.

Lily nodded.

“I’d rather not have any, then,” he snarled, looking disgusted. Petunia said nothing but merely sat staring at Lily’s wand as if mesmerized.

 

\--

 

Lily woke up on Christmas day to the sound of a persistent pecking at her window. Grateful that Petunia was still fast asleep, she tiptoed across the room and undid the latch.

Not one, but two owls flew in, one of which she recognized as the Potter’s family owl and the other one as Mary’s. The third bird was a harassed looking chicken which seemed to have been magically altered (Hagrid, Lily thought). They all carried large packages tied to their right legs, and upon entering the warmth of the room- Lily didn’t know whether to be horrified or to laugh- flopped directly onto Petunia’s unconscious body. She woke up with a start, and upon finding three owls and a chicken on her , shrieked and jumped so violently that she fell off her bed and onto the floor.

“Um… Merry Christmas,” said Lily, barely containing her laughter as she offered a hand to her sister, who glared at her and didn’t wish her a merry Christmas back.

She had expected James to sleep late as he had done in the past few days, but surprisingly she only had to wait a few minutes before he bounded down the stairs into the living room. Seeing him, Scrapper flew to his wrist straightaway and gave James an affectionate peck as he untied the load from his leg, which he had refused to let Lily to take out of pride.

“Excellent!” James exclaimed as he lifted a box of Filibuster’s No Heat, Wet Start Fireworks from the package. Petunia, who had been about to kiss Vernon on the cheek in thanks for the slightly wilted petunias (how original, thought Lily) he had sent her, paused and looked disapprovingly at him.

Mary had sent Lily an assortment of products from Madam Pimpernelle’s Beautifying Potions. Hagrid’s gift turned out to be a very wooly poncho-like something that he appeared to have knitted himself. The Potters had given her a journal.

“Hey, look, there’s something from Padfoot in here too!” James interrupted Lily’s admiration of the leather-bound book. Looking up, she saw him turning very red as he opened the wrapping of a new present.

“What is it?” Lily leaned over to see what Sirius had sent them.

“It’s nothing,” he said quickly, jerking it out of her reach.

“Hey!” she protested, snatching at the arm which he was now holding above his head.

Pulling out her wand, she said, “Accio!” and deftly caught the present.

“No- Lily- don’t-”

But it was too late. Triumphantly Lily ripped open the paper to reveal what was inside… and immediately wished she hadn’t.

“What the bloody hell…” she croaked.

“Told you so.”

They spent much of the rest of the day suggesting appropriate punishments for Sirius once they got back to Hogwarts.

 

\--

 

Lily dressed quickly the next morning, swiped on some nude gloss and eyeshadow, then curled her hair with a flick of her wand. She looked at herself in the mirror. Not bad, considering that she rarely wore Muggle makeup. Then she hurried downstairs, knowing that James would need help figuring out how to dress properly.

They took a taxi to the church, as Vernon still refused to let them in his car. James sat clutching a tube-like something the entire way, and when Lily asked him what it was he mumbled that was a wedding present. Lily remained suspicious, however. She doubted that anything James would want to give to Petunia and Vernon would be worth having.

They were ushered into the chapel, and Lily was infuriated to find that Petunia had seated her at the back, where much of the distant family she had never met in her life were sitting. She had to crane her neck to see anything at all, and even then it was hard to hear what the priest was saying. James had picked up a booklet from under the seat in front of it, seemingly interested. Lily really couldn’t blame him; the endless droning of the priest was starting to make her feel extremely sleepy. She rubbed her eyes, then realized with horror that half her makeup had smeared away.

Looking around surreptitiously to make sure no one was looking (they weren’t), she sneaked the tip of her wand out of a fold in her dress and murmured, “Aguamenti,” so that a stream of water spilled into her hand. She splashed her face face with it, but missed a little, and got some onto the package James was holding.

He looked horrified; a bit too so, Lily thought. How could a bit of water be so bad?

Very bad, she soon realized, as the “present” came shooting up into the air and exploded in a series of multicolored pops and bangs. Every eye in the church turned from the now embracing Petunia and Vernon to the fireworks show now displayed above.

 

\--

 

Lily sought her sister after the reception, looking to apologize for James’ embarrassing behavior. She couldn’t find her anywhere, but did come upon Vernon talking to a fellow guest. Seeing James, the guest shook his hand and congratulated him on his fireworks. “That was fantastic,” he told him, “Really great. I’m getting married soon too; do you think you could do that for me?”

Vernon grimaced and steered the man away slightly forcibly by the elbow, telling him loudly that James was just “some low class magician” and that there were better things to do than “talk to riff raff like him.” James balled his hands into fists, but Lily held him back.

“It’s completely your own fault,” she told him accusingly. “Why did you have to ruin it all over again?”

“It was your fault for getting the water on,” he grumbled, but quailed under Lily’s withering look. “Alright, I’m sorry, are you happy now?”

“Do I look happy?” she hissed. “What the hell were you thinking, bringing fireworks to a wedding?”

 

\--

 

They packed in silence the next day. Lily was fuming about the fireworks incident, and James didn’t dare speak lest she blow up at him again. He was really hoping that she might cool down once they arrived at his house. Who knew what his mother would do if she found out?

“Goodbye,” Lily hugged her parents, then paused as Petunia came into the room. “Look, Petunia, I’m really sorry about the wedding. I didn’t have a thing to do with it and-” she broke off, not sure of what to say. She still wasn’t ready to forgive Petunia, but at the same time wanted to wish her luck in her new married life. “Well… I guess I’ll see you around, then.”

She turned away, but stopped as Petunia said, “Um…”

“What?”

Petunia fingered the fabric lining of her shirt awkwardly, then said, “Nothing.”

“Oh. Okay,” said Lily, disappointed, and she left.

 

She died four years later. Petunia’s silently mouthed “goodbye” would never reach her.

**Author's Note:**

> aaa I remember spending so long researching to make this canonically and historically accurate. I hope you liked it!


End file.
